A dangerous driver who was believed to have flouted a court order by leaving the country to work in Ibiza has never been abroad, a judge heard today.

Thomas O'Shaughnessy, 25, was as shocked as anyone when he read a newspaper report saying he was in Ibiza and would be arrested on his return, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

When he saw the report saying that a warrant had been issued for his arrest last week he contacted the probation service to assure them he was still in the UK and he then handed himself in to the police, Judge Michael Cullum heard.

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His lawyer, Jason Coulter, said it had all been a big misunderstanding between O'Shaughnessy and the probation service. He had told them he had the chance of work in Ibiza for 2-3 months and asked if he would be allowed to go but was told definitely not

On being told that, he did nothing more about it and continued living in Stroud and working for a local construction company, Mr Coulter said.

O'Shaughnessy, of Moor Hill Place, Cashes Green, Stroud today admitted flouting the terms of a 6 months suspended jail term he received in February 2016 by missing probation appointments on April 5, 19 and 24 this year.

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Mr Coulter said letters sent to O'Shaughnessy sometimes did get wrongly delivered to another part of his housing estate where there is a road with a similar name. Also, he often had to stay away from home with work and may have missed the letters for that reason.

O'Shaughnessy had been 'horrified' to hear the allegation that he had gone to Ibiza in defiance of the probation service's instructions and was 'terrified' that his jail term may now be activated, the lawyer added.

Judge Michael Cullum accepted the explanations and punished O'Shaughnessy for the breach by increasing the length of the suspension of his sentence from 18 months to two years.